We need big ideas and courageous leaders who will execute them in order to overcome our traffic congestion issues

Austin’s skyline is set to get even more impressive. Developers on Monday announced plans for a 58-story, 370-unit residential tower called The Independent.

With its weakened job growth, sluggish GDP expansion, and uncertainty about interest rates, the first quarter produced some jitters about the economy, and thus the potential for further real estate growth. (At least compared with the somewhat more robust last few quarters of 2014). But not everyone’s so edgy, at least about the prospects for real estate growth in the coming years.

It’s evident by now that the recovery has taken hold in all markets across the country. Still, there are some areas that are faring better than others, particularly when it comes to employment and business growth.

Next Wednesday IREM is headed to Washington, DC, for its 18th annual Capitol Hill Visit Day, held in conjunction with its yearly Leadership and Legislative Summit. Gaston & Wilkerson Management Group CEO Don Wilkerson, who’s also an IREM SVP assigned to public policy, tells us the top three issues on its docket:

Two bills filed during the legislative session will tidy up some details related to the use of land in Austin now occupied by University Medical Center – Brackenridge.

The Brackenridge hospital will be decommissioned in 2017 when the new Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas is completed.

Casoro Capital, a new private equity company formed by the PPA Group, is open and ready to tackle the Texas multifamily world.

The newest initiative to find solutions to Austin’s traffic congestion, MobilityATX, launched April 13 and asks residents to come up with creative ideas on how to fix the problem.

CBRE Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance group has arranged a little over $16 million in acquisition financing for Southwest Medical Village, a 100 percent occupied class A medical office building in Austin.

Area to tally more than 2K apartments

By summer 2016 the Lake Travis ISD area will see an increase to about 2,050 apartment units compared with January 2015’s 1,700 units, Realtor Doug Land said. The influx of rental communities is a new market for western Travis County, which has been largely missing this segment of housing for the past decade, the Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty broker said.

More than $1 trillion in U.S. real estate debt from the last decade’s property boom is starting to come due as oil prices stagnate, squeezing property owners in cities and towns centered around the energy business.

1. Commercial Real Estate Thrives on Record Price Surge "In today's "Single Best Chart," Bloomberg's Olivia Sterns displays how commercial property prices have risen past the highs of the previous market peak in 2007. She speaks on ‘Bloomberg Surveillance.’"

I recently had the pleasure of attending the MIPIM International Real Estate Conference in Cannes, France. Over 20,000 professionals were in attendance, most hailing from Europe with Asian investors in a not so distant second.

Largely absent were the Americans.

As Millennial's continue to take over the workforce, offices are forgoing structured cubicles in favor of open floor plans and collaborative environments. But it's not a one-size-fits-all strategy.

Smaller banks have sharply stepped up lending for commercial real estate development and business expansion, an important sign that the economy is shedding the last vestiges of the Great Recession.

Date: 4/21/2015

Time: 11:15 am - 1:00 pm

The Four Seasons Hotel
98 San Jacinto Blvd.

Come hear the inside story about how one of Austin’s biggest and newest private/public partnerships came together.

Date: 6/2/15

Time: 07:30 am - 12:30 pm

W Austin Hotel
200 Lavaca St.

Join us on June 2 when over 250 of Austin's elite commercial real estate decision-makers gather for networking opportunities and forward-thinking local market knowledge.